Harlequins prop Marler appeared to land a forearm in the face of Evans while trying to assist Dan Cole ground the ball over Wales’s try-line.

“Joe Marler has been cited by the independent citing commissioner for allegedly striking an opponent in the 15th minute of the 1st half of the RBS 6 Nations match between England and Wales at Twickenham,” said an RBS 6 Nations statement.

If found guilty at a disciplinary hearing later this week, Marler will face an “entry-point” ban of 2 weeks, which would rule him out of England’s attempt to seal a 1st Grand Slam since 2003.

Officials have yet to decide whether a separate incident of verbal abuse, in which Harlequins prop Marler called Wales’s Samson Lee “gypsy boy” during the 1st half of England’s 25 / 21 win at Twickenham last Saturday, warrants disciplinary action.

Here are the disciplinary hearings following last weekend’s rescheduled matches in the Challenge Cup and Champions Cup.

RED CARDS:

Josaia Raisuqe (Stade Français Paris):

The Stade Francais Paris wing, Josaia Raisuqe (No 11), was issued with a Red Card during the European Rugby Champions Cup rescheduled Round 2 match against Munster Rugby on Saturday, 9 January 2016.

Raisuqe was sent off by referee, Nigel Owens (Wales), in the 41st minute of the match at Stade Jean Bouin for allegedly making contact with the eye(s) and / or eye area of the Munster Rugby loose forward, CJ Stander (No 8), in contravention of Law 10.4 (m).

Simon Thomas (Wales) has been appointed as the independent Judicial Officer for the disciplinary hearing which will take place in Paris today (Wednesday, 13 January).

Here’s a quick summary of the Diciplinary Sanctions imposed on cited players of remaining Quarterfinal Countries – Argentina, Ireland and Scotland – following the weekend’s last Pool Stage games in the Rugby World Cup of 2015.

Marcelo Bosch of Argentina is suspended for 1 week, for a dangerous tackle

Sean O’Brien of Ireland is suspended for 1 week, for striking a player

Ross Ford of Scotland is suspended for 3 weeks, for his participation in a dangerous tip takle against Samoa

Jonny Gray of Scotland is suspended for 3 weeks, for his participation in a dangerous tip takle against Samoa

Tevita Kuridrani, Australian outside centre was banned for 5 weeks for his tip-tackle on Peter O’Mahony on the weekend in the match between Ireland and the Wallabies.

Sona Taumalolo of Tonga was banned for 4 weeks and Yoann Maestri’s Red Card was deemed sufficient punishment for their involvement in striking each other in the match between France and Tonga on the weekend, which effectively means Yoann Maestri is free to resume play and to face the Springboks on the weekend.

Flip van der Merwe of South Africa has been cited for alleged foul play during a Rugby Championship match at the weekend.

Van der Merwe is alleged to have contravened Law 10.4 (a) Punching or Striking when he made contact with Australian winger Joe Tomane. The incident occurred in the 39th minute of the match between South Africa and Australia at DHL Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday 28 September.

In the NPC match between Southland and Waikato in Invercargill, props from both sides, Jamie Macintosh (Southland) and Ben Tameifuna (Waikato), were cited for stamping, with Judicial hearings on Tuesday.

Here’s a review of the Judicial hearings and citings following a weekend of ill-diciplined rugby in South Africa.

As we all know by now, in a water logged match in the ABSA Currie Cup between The Sharks and DHL Western Province, four players were carded in Durban, Sharks losse forward Jean Deysel received a Yellow Card, Jebb Sinclair and Tyrone Holmes from Province both received Red Cards for punching, whilst Wilhelm van der Sluys from Province received a Yellow Card.

From about 5 minutes before the end of the match, Western Province was forced to play with only 12 players on the pitch, effectively resulting in an eventual Penalty Try to the Sharks just before the end of the game.

After some careful thought about the repercussions a team has to face, due to foul play by individuals in a team, who in most cases really aren’t dirty players and what it actually means for a team to play with 14 men for either 10 minutes and in some cases anything up to 80 minutes, it is clear in my opinion that it needs to be re-assessed.

I know it is RWC time and I have written before (read here) about the fairy tale Curry Cup win of Griqualand West against the mighty Blue Bulls in 1970. This week I received this wonderfully written account by Michael Kokkinn about that historic match. Micheal’s father was not only one of the selectors of the Griquas team but also a sort of mentor to coach Ian Kirkpatrick. Michael actually attended the match in 1970 and here is his first hand personal recollection of the match.

My personal thanks to Michael for this personal first hand and historical recollection of that match. You can feel the passion for the game as you read his story. This is heartland South African rugby and it is people like him that make South African rugby what it is.

I wrote a piece after the 2010 match and started by stating that between the referee, Habana and the box kicks we nearly lost the match. I also said that the score line was flattering to the Welsh. After watching the game again I’ll stick with those sentiments. Not that Wales were bad, they actually played some good footy in that match but the South African players made it easy for them. The Springboks lacked concentration and were without a doubt tired after a long S14 a tough tri-nations and an extremely physical encounter the previous weekend in wet in cold conditions against Ireland.

Manawatu-Horowhenua 3 / South Africa 14

9 June 1956 – Waikato 14 / South Africa 10

The first match against Waikato is remembered mainly for two reasons; firstly, the massive three and a half hour welcoming procession; secondly, the fact that the Springboks lost the match. Here is a picture of the welcoming procession.

Not much is available on the Australian leg of the 1956 tour. McLean in his book “Battle for the rugby crown” devout a chapter to this part of the tour but writes very little about the actual matches apart from the table below which is a summary or record of matches played in Aussie. Continue reading →

The 15th of August 1992 was South Africa’s official return to first class international rugby after 11 years –since the 1981 tour to NZ- of rugby isolation. The Springboks did play two “Test matches” against a world XV in 1989 (6 years prior to 1992) and 4 “Test matches” against the NZ Cavaliers in 1986 and of course there was the two Test matches against a 1984 touring English side but these matches were in all fairness not the real thing.

The words of Irish international Fergus Slattery echoed perhaps best the general feeling about South African rugby at the end of the 1976 tour. Commenting to Phillip Jones of the Sunday Times before he left South Africa Slattery said: “The first thing I would tell a young player is not to play like the Springboks. They are five years behind the times.”

I have just recieved the following, celebrating the 40-year aniversary of a memorable occasion:

On 18/09/2010 we are holding a commemoration of the match that took place on 18 Sept 1970, when Griquas beat the mighty Northern Transvaal 11-9 at Kimberley to win the Currie Cup. We are expecting the likes of Mannetjies Roux, Piet Visagie and Piet Van Deventer to name but a few to come visit us here at Ammosal clubhouse. This was the last time Griquas won the Currie Cup, and we have been bragging for years about the fact that nearly the whole team consisted of Ammosal players.